Monday 26 March 2007
C.Dupont/CEA
Integration of the Evry national genomics research platforms
C.Dupont/CEA
The CEA’s Life Sciences Division now boasts a new Institute, taking its tally to 8.
Over March 22 and 23, the Board of Directors of the CEA and the National Public Interest Group in Genomics Research voted to transfer both national genomics research facilities, the CNS (national genome sequencing centre) and the CNG (national genotyping centre), to the CEA.
Over March 22 and 23, the Board of Directors of the CEA and the National Public Interest Group in Genomics Research voted to transfer both national genomics research facilities, the CNS (national genome sequencing centre) and the CNG (national genotyping centre), to the CEA.
The two national technology platforms, which were first created in 1997 and 1998, are both dedicated to genome sequencing and genotyping, or in other terms, to localising and identifying genes that are potentially involved in various different diseases.
The move will result in the marriage of the CNS and the CNG, giving birth to a new Life Sciences Division Institute – it’s 8th – on May 1st 2007. Both facilities will be reenergised, and all 250 platform staff are set to become employees of the CEA, joining the Fontenay-aux-Roses centre’s team. The Institute, which will be based in Evry, will conserve the mission of these national facilities, i.e. to generate data for the scientific community while at the same time developing its own research programmes.
These two major national centres have been assigned to the CEA to meet four core objectives:
- to guarantee the long-run sustainability of the CNS and the CNG and enable them to develop their own research, particularly on microbial capacities that can be harnessed for industrial use for chemistry or the environment, or research into gene-environment interaction, cancers and neurodegenerative disorders, and for the development of tailored therapy.
- to stay competitive among the international leaders in post-genomics. This is a phase that will entail developing specific technological and bioinformatics applications. These development directions represent a potentially rich source of innovations, and the potential synergies with the CEA’s major technological capacities in this area (DSV, DRT, DSM) will give the Institute a world-leading edge.
- to create a fluid continuum of genomics and post-genomics skills, combining the core competencies of the CNS and the CNG with CEA expertise, such as DNA microarrays, proteomics, recombinant proteins, bioinformatics, or small-animal imaging.
- These research areas are particularly complementary to the DSV’s priority research areas, with the CEA offering an extremely promising research environment via its expertise in radiation biology, nuclear toxicology and the mechanisms underlying carcinogenesis harnessed with healthcare technologies.